Advances in telecommunication have allowed wireless data networking to abound. Laptops, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other consumer electronic devices are increasingly interconnected with public telecommunication networks such as the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) or the Internet for sending text messages, hypertext data, digital photographs, etc. To a very limited extent, these portable devices may transmit and receive low-resolution digital streaming audio and video signals, often significantly buffered. The result is generally unsatisfactory to those who need high quality two-way video, audio and data communications.
While these portable capabilities are satisfactory for many purposes, two-way videoconferencing and similar high-bandwidth audio and data transmission are not well supported to remote locations. This is in contrast to fixed location capabilities that are ubiquitous in various institutions where there is a large terrestrial communication infrastructure of videoconferencing systems, telephone, data networks, etc. Businesses and institutions use these communication links for two-way high-resolution audio and video transmission, Internet access, presentation visual graphics, telephone communication, email, and facsimile documents. However, these land-based solutions are limited to fixed locations and require significant amounts of time to add new locations.
In the recent past, a truly portable, high-quality two-way video/audio/data transmission was achievable, as described in “Mobile Videoconferencing System” to Mark Chew et al., Ser. No. 10/339,919, filed on 10 Jan. 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Therein, a Technical Operations Center (TOC) interfaced a satellite communication channel to the terrestrial-based communication nodes (e.g., POTS, ISDN lines, Internet, etc.). At the other end of the satellite communication channel, a mobile system in shipping containers or installed in a vehicle quickly locked onto the satellite. Further portability was achieved by a Radio Frequency (RF) transmission from the mobile system to a portable system.
The portable part of the system, a “Video Interactive Companion” (VIC), extended the mobility of the system, allowing videoconferencing from locations that were not directly accessible to a vehicle. A radio frequency communication link from the mobile portion of the system successfully traversed a distance such as approximately 200 feet and into a building. Specifically, an access point is set up on the mobile system and another access point is incorporated into the VIC. The VIC also used static addressing. Thereby, a point-to-point solution was provided by the VIC in combination with the mobile system and its satellite communication link, albeit with limitations such as one-way video.
While the Mobile Videoconferencing System readily provided two-way broadband video, audio and data to remote locations at a reasonable cost, there are instances where setting up the link between the mobile system and the VIC was problematic. For instance, placement of the VIC is dictated by the range of the mobile system, which has power transmission limitations. In addition, in many industrial and business settings desirable locations for video/audio/data communications may be blocked by a significant number of structures and interfering signals. Consequently, the VIC was not able to roam while maintaining communication.
In addition, there are instances wherein the location is not so remote as to require a satellite communication link. In addition, even though the satellite link described is relatively inexpensive compared to traditional satellite communication, it would be desirable to avoid this expense if possible. In particular, there are situations where institutions do not have ISDN (Integrated Switched Digital Networks) access everywhere that they would like to videoconference. The cost of installation and maintenance for an ISDN may be too high or the existing IP data network is insufficient in bandwidth for quality of service for digital video. Typically, such an institution has specific conference rooms that are wired for videoconference equipment. Often, it is inconvenient to hold all such videoconferences in these limited number of locations, or it would be desirable to have additional simultaneous videoconferences. For instance, a public attraction such as an aquarium has numerous exhibits and marine specimens of interest to many educational institutions that are not near to a similar facility. Education would be enhanced by having the videoconferences with the experts at the exhibits rather than being limited to what can be carried into a fixed conference room.
A partial answer to such portable videoconferencing has been available, albeit with a number of significant drawbacks. A VRS LIBERTY conferencing system is connected to an ISDN line via a fixed VTC room. A video/audio analog signal from a nearby broadcasting location is transmitted via a 2.4 GHz carrier to the conferencing system. A two-way audio communication channel is maintained with the broadcasting location via a separate VHF channel. Thereby, a camera operator can communicate with a distant broadcast recipient who is participating via the ISDN line.
This portable videoconferencing suffers from multipath signal distortion and other problems related to its analog transmission. The conferencing system requires that an ISDN line be available, which is often not the case in institutions with only POTS and Internet connectivity. Furthermore, at the broadcast location, only a return audio signal is provided, which disables videoconferencing. Furthermore, communication is poor when roaming.
A significant need exists for a portable two-way videoconferencing system that provides high quality audio, video and data to a broadcast location that is comparable in cost to fixed location ISDN videoconference systems.